PERSONA NON GRATA. Datu Kaylo Bontulan, deputy spokesperson of the PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao and Council member of the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanogon, in a press conference on Thursday, June 22 shows reporters a copy of the letter declaring them as Persona Non Grata in their own communities in Talaingod, Davao Del Norte by the Tribal Council of Elders. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — A Lumad organization blamed the military for the persona non grata declaration issued against them by a council of Lumad elders in the municipality of Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
Jong Monzon, spokesperson of Pasaka Confederation of Lumad Organizations, said the persona non-grata declaration issued by the Office of the Ata Manobo Council of Elders on June 5 this year was clearly the military’s way of preventing the implementation of rehabilitation programs by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The said declaration sought to prevent the entry of PASAKA, along with the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Incorporated, Karapatan Alliance of Human Rights, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, and SILDAP.
The declaration was signed by Municipal Indigenous People Mandatory Representative Bae Pilar Libayao and Elders Datu Linasod Sibogan, Datu Ltawagan Bangilon, Datu Jaime Panuayan, Datu Maning Andilong, Datu Isokoy Lumangkoy, Datu Banao Bubunan, Datu Mariano Causing, Datu parumla Antulad, Datu Loganyaan Sigan-a, and Datu Benancio Bantacan.
Monzon linked the declaration with the joint resolution issued by the Regional Peace and Order Council and the Regional Defense Council that urged the office of the President to review the memorandum of agreement signed by the DSWD and the PASAKA.
“Kani nagpakita lang nga gipangunahan ug gisugo sa militar aron dili i-implement ang katong amoang mga project ug pagbalik sa among mga komunidad” (This only shows that the military is behind this so that the projects [that we signed with the the DSWD] and our return to our communities will not begin), he said.
Monzon noted that the joint resolution was signed by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año, 10th Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Rafael Valencia, and Eastern Mindanao Commander Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, among others.
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Meanwhile, Datu Kaylo Bontulan, a council member of the Salugpongan, questioned the veracity of the declaration, saying that he knew for a fact that the datus were not literate.
“Kini dili ko mutuo nga mga tribal ang nagahuimo ani kun dili gituohan nakoa ng nagahimo ani mga sundalo. Tungod kay tan-awon pa lang nimo ning mga pirma, dili ni pirma sa mga datu. Kay ang mga datu karon didto, wala gyud nakatungha sa skwelahan”
(I do not believe that this is the work of the tribal [elders] but of the soldiers. This is because if you look at this signatures, these are not the signatures of the Datus. Those datus have never set foot in a school), he added.
The Salugpongan is a member organization of the Pasaka, a confederation of lumad organizations in southern mindanao region.
Bontulan also asserted that the tribal elders who lived outside of the territory of the Salugpongan, were aware of an existing agreement that delineated the territories of the Salugpongan and the Talaingod elders.
Bontulan said the boundary was set in an area where a member of the Salugpongan died in 1977.
“Ang mga lider nga nakalista diri nagarespeto sa organisasyon tungod kay tao ang gihimong boundary diha” (The leaders listed here respect the organization because a person’s life marked the boundary [of territories]), he added.
Bontulan defended the listed groups, saying that they are not the ones spreading chaos in Talaingod.
“Ang nagahatag ug kasamok sa Talaingod, una, gipa-applyan ni Mayor [Jose] Libayao ang Talaingod ug plantasyon didto sa Alcantara sa 27 ka tuig” (Chaos started in Talaingod, first, because Mayor Libayao leased Talaingod to the plantations of Alcantara for 27 years), he said.
Bontulan was referring to the entry of the logging company Alcantara and Sons Incorporated, whose commercial tree plantation project in Talaingod in 1994 sparked resistance from the Ata Manobos seeking to defend their ancestral domain. Libayao was a former Alsons security guard.
It was in those years that Datu Guibang Apoga and several other Datus formed the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanogon (Unity To Defend the Land) launched a pangayaw (tribal war) against Alsons.
Their struggle led to the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with Alsons and the military which delineated their ancestral domain and protected it from the logging project.
“Ang nagahimo ug kasamok katong mga dagkong negosyante nga nisulod nga muilog sa among yutang kabilin ug labi na ning mga kasundaluhan” (The inciters of chaos are those big businessment who entered to steal our ancestral domains with the soldiers), he said.
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